Tweenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:  One Person
by Jarred706
Summary: Poor little Mikey, what did mean ole Raph do this time?  Master Splinter has a story for you Raphael...  Complete oneshot, for real.


Disclaimer: 'Nuff said.

Note: This is just a little story that I was messing around with while bored today. Iwas an unintentional tale, but I couldn't stop writing none-the-less. Anyway it's a lesson taught to Raphael from a story, I figured it takes place sometime when the Turtles were roughly 10 or 11. So yeah, I wrote it without saying anything explicit, but you'll get the idea.

Tweenage Mutant Ninja Turles

The Story of the Little Girl

"This movie is stupid," Raphael said as he sat next to Michelangelo who was quite caught up in what they were watching.

"Why you say that Raph," Leonardo said as he lay on the sofa, his head hanging of the side as he watched the movie through an upside down perspective.

"Cuz, no one person can make any diff'rence, it ain't possible," Raph said matter-of-factly as he shook his head.

"Why not?" Michelangelo looked towards his gruff brother.

"Cuz it's just not possible. It's all made up, that's why it's a movie," Raphael replied to his light-hearted brother.

"But..." Michelangelo was cut off before he could finish what he was saying.

"But nuthin Mikey. You can't keep thinkin like that, it ain't real. Just grow up," Raphael said sharply.

Michelangelo couldn't even reply, he immediately started to tear up at his brother's remark. He knew Raphael would make fun of him if he started crying. That he would get called a big baby, so he tried to hide the fact that he was crying by getting up and saying that he had to go to the bathroom.

"Why are you so mean to him Raph? He didn't do anything to you," Leonardo got up following Michelangelo's footsteps to the bathroom door. He stopped by the door and tapped, telling Mikey that it was okay, that Raph was just being a jerk and didn't mean anything.

Raphael on the other hand just fumed, mumbling to himself, calling Mikey a big, dummie.

"Raphael,"

Raph knew that voice, it was none other than their surrogate father and teacher, Master Splinter. He also knew that tone meant that he was in trouble.

Slowly Raph approached his father and looked up at the serious face of the old rat.

"What did you do to your brother that upset him so?" Master Splinter asked calmly, yet at the same time he let off an aura of not quite anger, but something close.

"I just told 'im to grow up, cuz he thinks that it's possible for one person to make a difference. I told 'im that he needed to not think like that, cuz it's not real. It's just a movie," Raph said, at first tempted to lie, but he knew his father would see right through that.

"Really? You think that my son?" Splinter asked as he palced his hand on the young turtle's shoulder.

"Course. It takes lotsa people to change things. One person can't do it themselves."

"Come sit with me Raphael, I have a story to tell you," Splinter motioned for his son to follow.

"But I don't w..." he was cut short by his master's gaze. He knew that look meant he had no choice but to follow, it was not an option.

"Sit my son," the old rat motioned towards the seat across from him.

Raphael did as he was told.

Splinter cleared his throat and began the story.

_Once upon a time there was a little girl. She was a happy little girl who was loved by her parents. As far as she was concerned the world was a happy place, and it would always be that way._

_Then one day a big, bad monster came to the little girl's house. The little girl wasn't at home when the monster came, she was at school. Then the principal at the school came and got the little girl from class, and told her something very bad had happened to her mommy and daddy. The little girl didn't believe him and told him that she wanted to see her parents right now. The principal said that she couldn't. That her mommy and daddy had been hurt real bad and that the doctor couldn't help them._

_The principal told her that she was not going to be able to see her parents again for a long time, and the little girl cried._

_Soon the little girl was carried to a new house, where she was with other little boys and girls just like her. Boys and girls who couldn't see their mommies and daddies anymore. She was told that one day she would meet new people who would want to be her new mommy and daddy, but the little girl didn't want a new mommy and daddy, she wanted her old ones back. She lived at the house for a long time and saw other boys and girls get new families, but no one wanted her. One day the little girl realized that she wasn't a little girl anymore, she cried again._

_The little girl who wasn't so little anymore soon noticed that the only way she felt better was when she cried, but soon she couldn't just cry anymore, and the only way she could make the tears come back was to hurt herself. So she hurt herself more often. Eventually she was hurting herself too often and it scared the other boys and girls in the new house, so she was told she had to stop or she would have to leave. She tried to stop, but couldn't so the little girl had to leave._

_After she left she realized the world wasn't as happy a place as she remembered, and that she was all alone. Then the little girl noticed that many people began to look at her, they didn't want to be her friend, they wanted to use her. Strange men and women would offer to give her money to do things with them. She was scared at first, but eventually she found out that she could use these things to make her feel something beside pain. She found others just like her again, boys and girls who did the same thing, and she thought that maybe they would accept her. A few of them did, it was through one of these 'friends' that she discovered other things that could make her feel different, things she could put in her body to make her forget about everything. _

_The little girl was lost, and the more she did these things the more she got lost. Soon the little girl didn't even know who she was anymore, and people quit wanting to use her. So once again the little girl cried. _

_The little girl didn't want to be this way anymore so she thought of ways to make it all end._

"This isn't a very happy story?" Raph interupted

"Just wait."

_One night the little girl decided to make it end. She had decided it was for the best._

_At the last minute something stopped her. She looked into the night sky that moments earlier had been clear and warm. The sky changed, the clear night became dark and cool, then something began to fall onto her._

_A voice from a stranger spoke to the little girl, it told her that the night was crying because it was sad at what she was doing to herself. The sky knew that the girl had more to offer, that it was not too late for the little girl. The little girl tried to ignore the voice, but it came back again as the night cried harder. A hand reached out to the little girl, it was the hand that belonged to the voice. _

_The little girl didn't want to take the hand, she knew that it was too late for her, but as she backed away, the hand followed her. No matter how hard she tried to reject the hand it always came back to her, and the voice kept telling her that if she gave up the sky would cry forever. _

_This saddened the little girl, she didn't want to make someone else cry. So she stopped running and the hand that had been reaching for her touched her. This was a different kind of touch than she was used to, it wasn't like the touch of those that wanted to use her. No, this touch was kind and caring. Soon the hand completely held the little girl's shoulder, and another hand touched the other shoulder. The little girl wasn't scared though. The hands pulled the little girl close to the voice. Then the little girl felt the body that belonged to the hands and voice, and in that instant the little girl realized that these hands weren't there to harm her, this body wasn't there to use her, and the voice wasn't there to mislead her. The little girl felt an embrace that was purely kind, like the way her parents had embraced her before the monster had hurt them and taken them away. The little girl couldn't help but cry again, but these weren't tears that came from pain, they were tears of a completely different emotion that the little girl was unfamiliar with. _

_The voice spoke again, telling her everything would be okay, that it wasn't over. The little girl believed the voice and accepted the help. The voice said it wasn't going to be easy but that it would help the little girl. All the little girl could say was, "Thank you." _

_In that moment the sky became clear, no longer crying for the little girl._

"So what happened to the little girl?" Raphael asked more enthusiastically than he had intended

"Simple the little girl grew up and decided that she would help other little girls and little boys when they got lost like she did," Splinter replied.

"Well it was good that the voice was there to help her then. Otherwise she mighta done somethin' stupid,"

"Exactly, that one person saved another person, who in return went on to help many others. Yet without that one person there to help the little girl she would've never stopped and then many others would have never gotten the chance. Do you understand what I'm saying my son?"

"That one person can make a difference in alot of people's lifes." Raphael answered.

"It all falls in a chain Raphael. One person helps another, that person helps the next and so on and so forth."

He then realized why his master had told him that story. It was possible for one person to impact others and ultimately change the way things are. He got up and made his way to where Mikey was still locked in the bathroom, with Leo still trying to coax him out.

Raph tapped on the door, and said he was sorry for making fun of his brother. Also saying that it wasn't a kid thing for him to believe that one person could make a difference.

Michelangelo could tell that his brother was being genuinely apologetic and slowly opened the door, peeking out. His eyes red from crying, but in an instant his face lit up and he burst out the door. "Cool, I'm gonna go finish the movie now."

"We'll join you," Leonardo called towards his brother, before looking at Raph, "thanks Raph. You know Mikey thinks the world of you, even though he doesn't show it. It really hurts him when you make fun of him."

"Yeah, Whateva..." Raph just nodded before following Leonardo back to the sofa.

Master Splinter sat alone now, where he had just finished Raphael's story, though alone would probably not be the best way to describe it. He knew there had been an eavesdropper on her and Raphael's story, "You can come out now Donatello."

"Sorry sensei, I didn't mean to listen, but I heard you telling it when I walked by and wanted to listen," Donatello apologized, scared he may get in trouble.

"It is okay my son," Splinter smiled.

"Okay..."Donatello sounded relieved he wasn't in trouble, "Master Splinter, was that story true?"

Splinter smiled kindly, "It is not whether or not the tale is truth, but the meaning behind the story. Though in this case I know the story was very true."

"How?" Donatello inquired.

"The voice that comforted the little girl was none other than my master Hamato Yoshi, I was but a pet when I witnessed this event, but it has been with me forever," Splinter's face lit up as he remembered his old master. "So Donatello what shall we have for dinner?"

End

End Note: So this my not be a story you'd tell a little kid, but I figured Raphael would understand it. I mean they are from New York...


End file.
